Teens in Indonesia Now Use Sanitary Pads to Get High

WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED:

Teenagers in Indonesia are collecting sanitary pads to get high, according to local officials.

The youngsters boil the sanitary pads and then drink the liquid after cooling it down.

The Indonesian National Drug Agency say that chemicals in the pads give these young people hallucinations and a feeling of “flying.”

Teenagers in Indonesia are using sanitary pads and tampons, even the used ones, to get high, officials have warned. The teens reportedly boil the menstrual pads in water then drinking the liquid after the mixture to cool down.

A number of teens caught making this menstrual-pad concoction have already been arrested by the police. They said it is a cheap and legal way to get high.

According to the Indonesian National Drug Agency (BNN), the chemicals in the menstrual pads give the minors a feeling of ‘flying’ and hallucinations.

“The used pads they took from the trash were put in boiling water. After it cooled down, they drank it together,” Senior Commander Suprinarto, head of the BNN said.

This practice has been going on for at least a couple of years as it was first reported in 2016 by Indonesian authorities.

“The materials they’re using are legal, but they’re not being used in a way that’s intended, so it ends up being used like a drug.” Suprinarto said as quoted by Vice.

“We need to take steps to educate people that there are materials that aren’t classified as drugs or psychotropics in the eyes of the law, but can still be misused,” the official added.

Indonesian local newspapers — Jakarta Post, Jawa Pos and Pos Belitung — have reported about this craze in previous weeks.

A 14-year-old user said that he and his pals drink it “morning, afternoon and evening.” The teen shared to a local newspaper how they make the concoction.

A sanitary pad, without the wrapper, is boiled for about an hour.

He told Pos Belitung. “The sanitary product is squeezed into the container, after which the water is drunk.”

The teen described the concoction as ‘bitter’.

The Indonesian Ministry of Health is now conducting an investigation on what chemical is extracted in the boiling process to cause the ‘high’ effect the minors were claiming.